


Love Bite

by Earthseed (LeaveAMark)



Series: Little Do You Know [2]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Angst, F/F, Unreliable Narrator, clueless adrien, insecure alya
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-09
Updated: 2018-01-09
Packaged: 2019-03-02 12:54:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13318542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeaveAMark/pseuds/Earthseed
Summary: Alya’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.





	Love Bite

Alya fought against the magnetic scent of roasting espresso beans that wafted out of every open café window that she passed on her walk to work. Her body didn’t need anymore caffeine, having already drank two cups of coffee during the ten minutes it took for Alya to get out of her and Marinette’s flat.

Marinette. A rush of pure chemical emotion entered Alya’s bloodstream causing her heart to beat faster at the thought of her, hopefully still, girlfriend. The rush of raw memories roused her depleted tear ducts. The back of Alya’s hand desperately wiped at her eyes as she re-focused on her walk to work. Three blocks then turn left at the Ladybug and Chat Noir statue, two blocks past Marinette’s old flat, then turn right at the café where they first kissed. Alya kept straight until the tears stopped blurring her vision; she made a U-turn and entered the Look office. 

_Look _magazine is far from Alya’s dream job. Very, very far. But it was the first decent salary Alya had been offered after university and Paris was not a cheap city.  
If any remnants of the last twelve hours were still visible on Alya’s face her co-workers didn’t mention it. __

____

Mr. Morel was waiting at Alya’s desk when she arrived. He was twisting his ring, a shiny and slightly sweaty gold band.

____

“Alya! Are you ready? Landing Agreste is a big deal; this could launch Look onto the global stage. When is he getting here? I want to greet him personally.” Mr. Morel gripped the back of Alya’s chair as she sat down.

____

No. Not today. Alya didn’t even feel the papers slice her fingers as she frantically searched for her notepad. It was written in red pen next to a month old coffee stain. Monday April 3rd Adrien @ Noon. 

____

_Three months prior… ___

______ _ _

“Please Mari, he likes you more than me.” Alya displaced Marinette’s sketchbook as she landed in her girlfriend’s lap. Alya held Marinette’s cell phone in the space between in them, “I need a short interview, nothing but fluff and juicy yet meaningless model gossip.”

______ _ _

Marinette laughed and tried to reach around her girlfriend to retrieve her fallen sketchbook. “Adrien likes you plenty.”

______ _ _

Alya pouted and straddled Marinette’s lap. Marinette pulled Alya deeper into her lap “But I’ll still call him for you.”

______ _ _

Alya peppered Marinette’s face with kisses “Thank you thank you thank you babe! I love you so much!” Alya bounced out of Marinette’s lap, “Now Morel is going to have to promote me!”

______ _ _

Marinette smiled and pulled Alya back down so that their eyes met “I love you too.”

______ _ _

_Present day… ___

________ _ _ _ _

Alya’s hands wouldn’t stop shaking; from nerves, anger, or caffeine she couldn’t tell.

________ _ _ _ _

“Ms. Cesaire, Adrien Agreste is downstairs. Mr. Morel is waiting for you on the elevator.”

________ _ _ _ _

The little oxygen that had been left in the office evaporated. Alya said a stiff thank you to Greta, the receptionist, and found herself in the elevator with a ring-twisting Mr. Morel. 

________ _ _ _ _

“Mr. Agreste it is an honor to meet you” Mr. Morel squeezed Adrien’s hand a little to hard and shook it a little too vigorously.

________ _ _ _ _

“It’s no problem. Anything for an old friend.” Adrien stepped around Mr. Morel and exhibited the pearly whites that had (so easily) recaptured Marinette’s heart. “Hey Alya, how have you been?”

________ _ _ _ _

Alya smiled so hard her teeth hurt “Great.” There was a mouth sized bruise peeking over the edge Adrien’s collar. It became more pronounced the longer they stood in _Look’s _artificially cold lobby.__

__________ _ _ _ _ _ _

Everything was still, not even the plastic shrub under the vent dared shudder. 

__________ _ _ _ _ _ _

Until Mr. Morel tripped over his own feet to fetch his ring of fool’s gold as it collided with imitation marble. “We’ll conduct the interview in our office, if that’s alright with you, Mr. Agreste?” Mr. Morel was on his knees trying, and failing, to reclaim his ring. 

__________ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Fantastic.”

__________ _ _ _ _ _ _

Alya was grateful for the small miracle that Adrien spent the whole 20 second elevator ride talking to Mr. Morel whose forehead grew shinier by the second. The love bite was now the size of Alya’s fist.

__________ _ _ _ _ _ _

Sadly, miracles don’t last forever and Alya’s 20-second miracle expired the moment they stepped out of the elevator and Adrien’s attention transferred from Mr. Morel to her. She would have normally interviewed Adrien at her desk, but considering the fact that her glasses were already smeared with tears, she kicked the interns out of the conference room and drew the blinds.

__________ _ _ _ _ _ _

“So, Adrien, you’ve been quite busy these past few years. Give me the highlights.” Alya was stock still in her seat whilst Adrien spun in his conference room chair like Manon did whenever Alya “snuck” her into the office. Marinette often agreed to watch Manon and forgot that she had a meeting/fitting/deadline at the same time. Alya’s co-workers had started leaving candies in the conference room for Manon.

__________ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Highlights? Well, the shoot in Tokyo was crazy, lot of colors. I wore a purple toga and was covered head to toe in gold glitter.” Adrien stopped spinning. “I was telling Marinette last night that my favorite shoot was in Barcelona. The city at night is breathtaking. I told Marinette that for a first date I would take her to Barcelona and we would have dinner in the shadow of the Cathedral as the sunset. It would be magical.” Adrien’s eyes were six hundred forty-four miles away and his soft smile told Alya exactly whom he was with.

__________ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Any designers, in particular that you enjoyed working with?” The love bite now covered half of Adrien’s face.

__________ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Not in particular. Though I did tell Marinette that since I’m moving back to Paris permanently if she ever needs a model, I’m only a phone call away.” Adrien smiled and propped his feet up on the conference table.

__________ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Moving back to Paris? Any reason why?”

__________ _ _ _ _ _ _

“My dad’s been pretty sick and I’m tired of traveling every week from castings to fittings to shoots. It’s been exhausting and I’m looking for more permanence in my life. Find somewhere, someone to settle down with.” Adrien smiled at the thought. Alya felt the blood in her veins go cold. Adrien’s face was completely overtaken by Marinette’s love bite. 

__________ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Thanks for your time Adrien. It’s always great to see old friends.” Alya was out of her seat and holding open the door before she finished her sentence.

__________ _ _ _ _ _ _

“That’s it? You only needed to ask three questions?” Adrien was slow in standing and getting to the door.

__________ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Yep. Like I said short and sweet.” Alya drummed her fingers on the door.

__________ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Okay. Can I take one of these mints?” Adrien held up a mint from the bowl on the conference room table.

__________ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Sure, take whatever you like.”

__________ _ _ _ _ _ _

Alya took Adrien back to the elevator while Mr. Morel not so subtlety watched through the blinds of his office window. She could still feel Adrien’s hug like an invisible boa constrictor pinning her arms to her sides as he disappeared down the elevator shaft.

__________ _ _ _ _ _ _

Alya couldn’t remember how she got home. 

__________ _ _ _ _ _ _

Marinette was pacing the rug that her and Alya had found in an antique shop when they first moved in together. She was engrossed in her phone call, her eyes everywhere but the doorway that framed her distressed girlfriend.

__________ _ _ _ _ _ _

“I don’t know Adrien, I mean, we haven’t, you just got back to Paris, I’d be honored but-” Marinette’s long dormant sixth sense told her to look up. “I’ll call you back Adrien”.

__________ _ _ _ _ _ _

Marinette tried to smile “Hey babe, you’re home early.”

__________ _ _ _ _ _ _


End file.
